These days, that is the prime question on the minds of the country club republicans, their corporate puppet masters, and the communists. They are plotting, spending money, and rubbing Karl Rove’s big round head trying to come up with the answer. The solutions have been to steal the nomination from the front runner in a brokered convention, if that fails plan B is to run a 3rd party to ensure a republican loss in the general election, while at the same time declaring none of this would be a problem in the first damn place if the pesky blue collar middle class would just go ahead and die.

I am thrilled at what Mr. Trump has accomplished during this election cycle. At the end of it all, he may turn out to be a phony baloney, but he has brought to the forefront what most harms the severely wounded but alive and well American Middle Class – illegal immigration, bad trade deals, and destruction of the US manufacturing base. And when people who are fighting for their lives find someone who appears to speak for them, they are going to fight. He has forever exposed the career politicians for who they are and likely has changed the voting and political landscape for a long time to come. The large crowds that are coming out in support are not purely conservative, not purely liberal, most certainly not the dependent class, and most certainly not the brain washed spoiled brat communists and professional protestors who are causing trouble. They are Americans who want their country back and Ronald Regan was the last person able to bring them all together and right our ship of state. I am making no comparison between the two men, but both seemed to have taken a different route to arrive at the same destination. And depending what is done with the prize it could turn out good as it did for Regan or it could go the other way. That is the great unknown, but America after all did gamble on hope and change.

It just saddens me that for so many years, and I am not the Lone Ranger on this one, I believed that a political party was interested in looking out for me. For certain, my gullibility and naiveté were exposed.

The ideological puritans across the spectrum are certainly part of our problem – especially those with big megaphones and inflated senses of self-worth. It would not surprise me if many of them drifted off into obscurity when this episode of American history concludes. We will just have to see. But be assured of this, the American people are to the point they will walk through and over them to get to the voting booth.

I consider myself conservative in my thinking, but an ideology should not be a national suicide pact. And most certainly it is time to end politics as a career and an industry. I am certain that there are plenty of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents of all ethnicities who still believe in America and who are willing to stand together. For the betterment of America maybe it is the elitist political class that needs to die.

But to answer the burning question. I listen to some news programming. I read a lot of news and commentary. I listen to some talk radio although I must admit I have recently whittled it down some. It is not uncommon to read and hear these media types talk about Rush Limbaugh and wonder out loud how he can maintain such a large audience. The never realize that if they honestly wrote and reported the news Mr. Limbaugh would have no audience. If they did their jobs completely and honestly, people would not have a need to turn to him or others to hear what they otherwise would not – ever.

So the answer for the country club is simple. For many years you have lied to the American people. You have lined your pockets with corporate dollars and failed to keep the promises to the people who put you into power. For the recent years and especially since Americans put you in charge of Congress, you have not stood on a single principle. You have been spineless and conniving. Your time to stop Trump passed you by long ago when you failed to govern in the interests of the American people. And now you are in for an epic beat down because you simply did not live up to your promises or do your job. And Mitt Romney et al are not going to save your sorry asses.

Comments (107)

What scares me is that Trump is a good Salesman. He knows what to say to make the Sell. So what happens after, will he not hold up to his end of the deal and then we are screwed. Was it not long ago we were trying to Stop the Bullying?? But yet he is allowed to publicly to degrade and make fun of a disability or of women because we bleed and have PMS. What kind of things is he saying about our forever disabled soldiers? Is he going to make fun of a man because he has been disfigured? What will he do or say to North Korea ? Does he really think he can make them stop? Trump scares me because he is a Good Salesman

Are you just repeating things you have been told that he says or have you actually heard him say any of those things? What has he actually done that is so offensive?

Trump isn’t/wasn’t my first choice. And, I admit that how he would govern is a gamble. But, we know for certain what Clinton or Sanders would do to further the ruination of this country should they be elected. The only sane choice for me is to take a chance on Trump.

Try watching some of his speeches. They are floating around on the ‘Net. He comes off much better than he did in the debates.

Oh, and his twitter account should just go away. I agree. His thing about Megan Kelly is beyond stupid.

You may not have been around when Reagan was elected. I was, and I voted against him. He was portrayed as a B actor,as a clown, as a gunslinging cowboy who would get us into a nuclear war. It took a while, but I eventually learned the value of an American President that the rest of the world fears, at least a little bit.

Unlike Ted Cruz, I think Donald Trump will be pragmatic about reaching a deal with whomever. He will be a tough negotiator on our behalf, and then take the best he can get. Personally, I like that. It is how Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush operated, and Obama has not.

I think the status quo people, the NWO, the illuminati, the bilderbergers, the tri lateral..all the scum of the world, will try to kill Trump…my prayer is that they find themselves behind the 8 ball….but…should they succeed…they will not be able to find holes deep enough to hide in, they will ALL be found and things put right….if they awaken that sleeping giant…HE WILL BE PISSED!!

Trump is as liberal as hillary, and has no interests other than his own. Trump will continue expanding government, and limiting freedom. I will never vote for a liberal like him no matter what party they are associated with. The way to beat trump was for rubio and kasich to get out a month ago and support a real constitutional conservative in Ted Cruz. Unfortunately, the establishment hates Cruz more than they hate trump, so that wasnt going to happen, and at this point, im certain kasich is still in the race to keep the vote split and ensure a trump nomination. I think hes fishing for a VP spot. Be that as it may, if the willfully blind masses put forth a trump v hillary election, ill vote libertarian and figure the intentionally dense morons who put those 2 up deserve what they get

Hillary Clinton thanks you for your support. A Hillary Victory can’t be done without the help of principled voters like yourself. So when President Hill gives her inaugural speech, go ahead and crack open a cold one… because that speech is for YOU!

The only difference between hillary as president or trump as president, is what letter is next to their name. Both are big government liberals who wish to expand the power of the executive branch at the expense of personal liberty. Trump running as a republican doesnt make him a better choice rhan hillary just because he has an R next to his name. Either way, if it is one of them, we as a country are screwed. Ill happily stick to my principles and not support the male of female version of hillary

Kasich would be a good pick for VP. He could help bring in Ohio for the Republicans. Trump stands a good chance of taking Florida and Pennsylvania from the Dems. If Trump can win Ohio, then the Dems have a serious problem in the general election.

That goes back to the late 1960s when Walter Cronkite and Time Magazine and syndicated news sources started lying their asses off to Americans.

I have a November 2012 forecast that the Republicans will be in the White House in 2016, and that the next president will be nasty, meaning aggressive and confrontational. And we may face war. I’m trying to figure out where I found it. The writer also predicted a serious economic meltdown (e.g., 7-2015 in Greece) but not total chaos, plus social chaos in the streets and political riots. I thought he was referring to Ukraine and Syria at the time. Now it seems to have flowed over to the Good Ol’ USA.

The writer also says that the economic depression will peak by the end of this decade. You see, there is hope.

Good article, JD. I agree with you. The GOPers are determining the death of their own party unless they stop acting like whiny 10-year-olds who are told “I’m gonna take MY ball and go play the game. You can play WITH me, or not. If you don’t, then screw you” by the one kid they don’t like.

Loss of control of something like the voting public is frightening to these people, wrapped for so long in the insulation of political office. They could consider other options, like dogwalking or running transient shelters. Or bus driving.

I think our current political economy is at its end stages. If there is no intervention it will fail and the system will die.

It is like trying to decide the best course of treatment for cancer. Do you do the high risk immediate surgical option with that has a low probability of success and could kill the body in the short term? Do you use radiation and medications and try to shrink the tumor and slow the growth until it is a size that can be removed with less risk and more likelihood of success but suffer even more in the mean time while also risking the possibility of waiting too long? Or do you just decide to let go and let the process run its course until the body’s systems begin to shut down doing what you can to mitigate the pain in the mean time?

There is not right answer. And it is unclear of the body can even be saved.

Trump is a low functioning narcissistic sociopath using textbook fascist rhetoric. People who have political leanings that would be classified as “mostly” fascist in America (above 0.50 F-scale score) represent only about 1/4 of American voters.

Right now he is running less than 50% of the voters in a party that has the majority of people with high F-scale scores. While Cruz also siphons high F-scale voters I do not think there is enough people who have political views highly correlated with fascism in the American electorate to win the white house against a moderate candidate.

I just do not think he can win on his fascist platform and it does not look like he has much new to say. He is just regurgitating the same rhetoric.

Even if elected I do not think he will have the support of most of the party establishment of either party. I do not think he will be effective. I think he be an impotent and incompetent president I think there is a damn good chance he will be impeached in his first term.

Which will create a mess and likely lead to period of mass demonstration and possible social unrest. Or at least a lot of sheds in National parks being occupied by “patriots.”

However, is Hillary even scarier? I am not sure. She is a high functioning sociopath. And she is well entrenched in Washington politics. And while the right hates her the establishment loves her. She takes millions in personal payments and tens of millions in campaign contribution from the wealthiest industry in America. One that preys on the American middle and lower middle class. And on the economy, particularly global trade and end stage finance capitalism she is empirically right wing.

And she is not particularly fond of civil rights. Only voicing support of a specific right well after it is the majority of view in America. She even lagged behind American sentiment on segregation. Supporting a segregationist until well after it was no longer the majority view in America.

So what is worse? A low functioning incompetent and political impotent sociopath? Or a high functioning well established and well backed sociopath?

I am really not sure. I am not sure America can handle either as president at this point. But Trump will likely only be a one term president if that. Hillary is likely to hold office for 8 years.

I want to see Trump stopped. I am desperate to see him stopped. But so does the the establishment.

I also want to see the establishment destroyed. I want to see campaign finance reform and I want to see the rampant and unchecked legalized bribery and wealthy donor influence removed from politics (and the donors buying our policy outcomes are not just wealthy Americans., they are an international finance class that has no nationality and no loyalty to the US or concern for the future of the American people beyond our potential as a market).

So how much pain are we willing to accept to force change? How long do we have left? I do not think our current trajectory as a nation is sustainable. Regardless of what path you think we should be on, it is clear the current path is not in our long term interests.

I think Trump will be stopped by the establishment but it will be a pyrrhic victory. One that will cause a massive crisis of legitimacy with respect to our political system, particularly the party process and the influence of wealth and non-voter political power on outcomes.

Would Trumps failure be a bigger win after he was elected than a Trump failure now? Or will it be more catastrophic due to the potential damage he could do even if in office a few years?

Y’know, I find that other than the knee-jerk use of the word ‘fascist’ I really don’t have much to disagree with in that screed. No insults, no telling someone to screw themselves, well-reasoned (whether someone agrees with you or not) – that post probably is a Lars high-water mark. I suspect that if more of your posts concentrated less on the ad hominem attacks and more on their logic they would be better received. Let’s not forget some of the equally guilty responses to your posts, too – that would help if there would be more debate and less “oh yeah? Your mother too!”

Trump is doing a good job using the same strategy Pres. Obama used in 2008 with Hope and Change, and it’s working. Trump supporters are far more energized than Bernie’s socialists or the Hillary fans. There are polls showing Trump beats Clinton, so he may take it all in November. If HRC gets indicted and Sept/Oct turns violent it’s all the better for Trump’s campaign. Make America Great Again/Hope and Change – see the similarity?

Lars, you simple-minded jackass, our political contribution is this jacked up BECAUSE of liberals like you. All this crap occurred because of Nixon’s shenanigans with contributions. Not illegal, but shady.

Problem is that created a situation wherein candidates now need deep-pocket donors just to operate. For most of this country’s history we managed just fine without all this BS red tape with respect to campaign contributions. More “reform” will just make it worse.

As for that dime-store diagnoses, congratulations, you know how to look up the right words. What it translates to is “someone I don’t like.” What’s especially ironic is that you whipped out “narcissistic,” a term better reserved for Barry.

Man, I must have missed the memo about the country club, because I’m just an average Joe republican, and I would sooner suck start my 9 then vote for that piece of crap. Let’s cut the horseshit, there is no maybe about trump being a phony, he has repeatedly shown himself to be a pathological liar who will say anything to get votes. You don’t have to be an “ideological I puritan” to see that he is little more than a thinly disguised Democrat capitalizing off of hot button issues that people have been trying to resolve for years before he came along, and most likely will still be issues after his theoretical rise to power.

People say they will choose him over hillary? How is voting for the man who funded her campaigns and up to a few months ago, shared most of her stances any better?
As for me, I threw my lot in with cruz, if it really comes down to either trump or Clinton /sanders, I’m voting third party. As far as I’m concerned, the rest of the country can pass over the reigns to one shitty statist or another, at least my conscience will be clean.

In almost total agreement with you. My only difference is what I’ll do if it’s Trump versus Hillary or Bernie? Do I vote Libertarian and feel good about my vote? Or do I vote Democrat to get the maximum anti-Trump bang for the buck?

Well the inverse of my statement is how is voting for a withered up bolshevik or the hil-dog any better than trump? We find ourselves, to quote south park, faced between voting for either a giant douche, or a turd sandwich. for me, I don’t want to spite the other side, I don’t want to compromise my values, and I don’t want to do nothing. As far as I can tell, that leaves the libertarians.

And in that case, you’re effectively voting for the major part candidate you like least. Because one of the two will be elected – and your vote spent in protest means the one you like least now needs one less vote to win.

Yeah, sometimes the math regarding our 2-party system sucks. But math is math – and it doesn’t care about our preferences.

YMMV, as always. You’d like Dennis Miller’s comment on the subject. His ballot has two names on it, Hillary and Not Hillary, and he’s voting Not Hillary. For me, it’s Trump and Not Trump, and I’m voting Not Trump.

1- Accidentally ‘reported’ your comment. Sorry.
2- Do you think that, somehow, a Clinton presidency will be better for the country? Do you think the Republicans in the Congress will work harder to stop her than they did against Obama? Do you think that it’ll feel good deep inside, looking at the disaster a Clinton presidency will bring, knowing that you voted “None of the Above”?

In this context I can’t bring myself to use the word “better” because both choices are horrible. So I might say “less horrible”. What tips the balance for me is that, in my opinion, Trump’s potential down side is much greater. Remember Cruz’s wisecrack about Trump invading Denmark? Funny line, but the underlying point is that Trump is such a loose cannon that he’s capable of almost anything.

Remember Reagan saying that bombing commences in 5 minutes? I personally remember hearing a state senator refer to Reagan gatherings as Nazi rallies. And the state senator was a Republican, in name, anyway. And I suppose if I were to ask how many people have visited Trump’s website rather than listen to sound bites and the selective media coverage, I would learn that the source of most folks’ views, positive or negative, is TV news coverage and talking heads. I’m not a fan of Trump. I want Cruz. I remain hopeful.

Then how is it that you could bring yourself to vote for Wide Load? I just can’t get that part. I mean, she has a record, a long and dirty record. Trump? What’s there is speculation and fear of the what-if. There is also a caustic personality and very bad hair. He will not be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize but look at the lispy, no-record, clown that won it. As I say, I just don’t get it.

2/17, Trump is being treated the same way Reagan was. Anybody that has the Lame Stream Media reporting negatively about him has my attention. Each election I vote for new guy or gal.Evry Presidental election we take a chance, Joe

I agree and that’s what I was suggesting. There are no sure things in politics and, if anything, the office tames the beast–unless he is not his own man and merely a mindless fellow traveler such as oBaMa or Sanders and, to a slightly lesser extent, Wide Load.

Particularly good point that the requirements of the office tend to take over. Every President – I suspect at least the last 43 or so – have found that there is only so much you can do and that the Founding Father’s checks and balances work both for and against them. Can’t remember who said something to the effect that “Even if the Devil won, he would still find it necessary to adopt many of the attributes of God to function”

Anybody v. Wide Load. I know what we’ll get in her. And that’s enough for me to vote for Anybody. Ditto the Old Commie. F him, his socialist bullshit, his supporters, his bastard child, his shoes, his socks, and his socialist bullshit. Yeah, I thought I’d repeat that one.

There is no need to stop Trump. He is not a sociopath, race hating, gender loathing Fascist. That kind of rhetoric reeks of its own fascism.

Trump with all of his shortcomings is clearly a better option than either Clinton or Sanders. When it comes to the girth of government they are simply Inflation and Hyper-Inflation. More government by means of seizing the wealth of it citizens.

Who does that leave? Cruz? He is probably the only true Republican in the race. He stood his ground on immigration, planned parenthood, and right down the list of the party platform.

I will never vote for the man because of his over zealous and aggressive religious positions. He pounds “God” and “Religious Freedon” at every opportunity. What he really means is his version of a God and being free to push that understanding into government and education. Not so much the rights of those who have a different belief in a God or those of us that find the notion of one absurd.

I do not believe we need a guy from the “Purifying Fire Ministries” congregation in the White House. He also supports the installation of religious doctrine in government buildings and schools.

I am a fiscal conservative. The Local, State, and Federal Government now seize most of the money and property in this country. Its still not enough, they spend far more than they have.

I am not a big fan of The Donald, but given the other choices, who else is there?

I keep hearing this “He’s a religious extremist” meme about Cruz and keep asking where he has ever said any of these things.

He has introduced no bills in Congress to push his religious views. In fact, his arguments in front of the Supreme Court have alway been to support the founding fathers view of the Constitution, states rights, and limited government.

So Dave, if you have some concrete statement from Cruz that support what you are saying I’d love to see it.

Sure, give me a second. I will post a few. He was a big supporter of pushing his religious values through the Courts. He doesn’t try to hide that as far as I know. By all accounts a nice guy but not the brightest crayon in the box.

Bright enough to win nine times in front of the Supreme Court, one of those wins was Heller vs DC. Another was Medellin vs Texas which defended the US status as a sovereign nation when it comes to dealing with non-citizen criminals in the US.

I think you maybe don’t know as much about him and his positions as you think you do.

Excellent point. Kennedy responded buy saying, The wall of separation between church and state is absolute. Something Cruz has not and will not say.

Secondly, the reason he had to respond to that was because other Christians had doubts about a Catholic being in office.

I am worried not what he alone will do on this matter. I am worried what he will do with the support of majority in congress who believe as he does on the matter. He will not have to force the issue.

We could do worse than Cruz, no doubt of that. If he made a stand like Kennedy did that he will not use the office to push his particular version of religious conviction, it would make me honestly consider him.

So you would rather vote for someone who has been buying politicians and has been part of the problem this whole time than vote for someone who is universally hated by not only Washington but the press as well?

So, you’re going to side with the corrupt jackasses that created the problem instead of siding with the person that they would hate to see as president.

Honestly, I think your hatred of anyone who is religious has clouded your judgment.

You are so afraid of someone who has a strong faith that you will vote to continue the bullshit that everyone is tired of from Washington.

You’re essentially afraid that people will be free to practice their religion the way the Constitution says they should be able to.

There are thousands of them. My major objection is he views defending religious freedom only within the context of his beliefs. His support for putting references to Moses in civil studies books and fighting to put creationist beliefs in science books is no secret either. He openly admits that is his position.

I have no issue with a person of faith in any office. I respect their right to have their own faith or none at all.

Cruz attacks the separation of church and state. He sees it as defending his religious beliefs and those that share them.

His father is a flaming nut case with religion. So far he has kept him off the stage.

Google away, some of the articles that attack him are just a nuts as his religious views. They are as wrong as he is.

There are thousands of them. My major objection is he views defending religious freedom only within the context of his beliefs. His support for putting references to Moses in civil studies books and fighting to put creationist beliefs in science books is no secret either. He openly admits that is his position.

I have no issue with a person of faith in any office. I respect their right to have their own faith or none at all.

Cruz attacks the separation of church and state. He sees it as defending his religious beliefs and those that share them.

His father is a flaming nut case with religion. So far he has kept him off the stage.

Google away, some of the articles that attack him are just a nuts as his religious views. They are as wrong as he is.

Since politicians have not been up to the task, maybe it’s time to try something else.
While far from ideal he has had to meet payroll at least a couple times.
And, I am impressed with his kids. Speaks to the parents, all of theem

Yeah, he’s been buying politicians this whole time, says that he can work with people like Pelosi and Schumer, and that ol’ Chuck is a “Close personal friend”

Sorry, he’s not an outsider, he’s a typical NY Liberal who has used bankruptcy laws to screw people that he owed money to out of what they were due and did it all under the “It’s good business” banner.

If the Pampered Princes (sorry PC add – and Princesses) on the Potomac can’t connive to stop him and it comes down to Trump vs known crap my vote will be for Trump. The fact that THEY are fighting so hard gives me a certain odd optimism.

This may sound a tad harsh but anyone who contributed to Bernie’s campaign, wrote a letter to the editor in support of him, posted a comment in support of him, printed his literature, or worked for him should either be taken out and shot or exiled to Bayonne. The choice is theirs. Myself, I’d take the lead.

I did. Contributed and volunteered to support his campaign. I phone bank when I have time.

Your views on how someone like me should be dealt with are right wing authoritarian.

Not surprised. I always knew you were full of shit when you pretended you valued freedom and liberty. You are that high F-scale authoritarian personality closet jackboot that willingly embraces and supports tyranny as long as it is directed at others.

You think rights and liberty should only be for people who are exactly like you.

You are almost certainly a supporter of the fascist or the Dominionist.

Okay, fuckwad, you just had to go there, didn’t you. You were doing fine not responding to my comments and I was avoiding your diatribes. Now, you’ve gone and done it. So, it’s fuck you time again. I don’t give a shit that you’re a Veteran. So was Benedict Arnold. By the way, I didn’t read whatever it is that you wrote beyond the first line. I like the fact that you, however, are reading my comments.

Well since you didn’t read what he wrote you more or less just proved him right. So well done on that point. It’s too bad that he’s pushed you to, as you say “not give a shit that he’s a Veteran.” Classy – you should be proud.

Still highly correlated with authoritarian beliefs and has been shown to be reliable through numerous studies for more than 60 years, which is why it is still used today.

You can take the test yourself. The primary controversy on the test has to do with the correlation of religiosity with authoritarianism, but that correlation depends on the religion in question. So it should not be part of the score.

And the questions have been continuously revised over the decades so modern versions of the test are more accurate than ever.

The other criticism of the test is that it focuses on right wing authoritarianism and not authoritarianism in general.

You’re wrong, Larsie. A friend, who happens to be an MD and a board-certified psychiatrist, had this to say about your so-called test, “Social sciences is a misnomer. There is little scientific about those types of studies or the scales they produce. Since most academics are leftist, they automatically draw their conclusions then build tools and surveys around them to say they were right. That effect is called confirmation bias”.
if you need his services, I’ll be happy to recommend you.

Oh, give it up, Poodle. You’re not hiding the blatantly obvious fact that you are as authoritarian as you say we are.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fart in space what you think of me. I do care that you think a fucking left-wing self-declared Communist asshole is a better choice for President of this country than anyone else.

He convenient ignores the authoritarian tendencies from his side, such as keeping conservative speakers from appearing at colleges all over the country, the IRS persecuting non-profit conservative groups, and the White House persecuting whistle-blowers.

That’s not to mention the proposed use of RICO to prosecute “climate deniers.” No matter one’s point of view on the subject, criminal prosecution for holding an opinion is way over the line.

This was an interesting thread until asshole went off the rails yet again.

The elephant in the room is what the FBI does about Wide Load’s crimes…you know the one’s that any of us with an SCI would already be in jail for. If the AG declines to prosecute, it seems the FBI troops will melt down.

But that will just leave asshole’s hero and I wouldn’t vote for him in any circumstance either. If the Dims had put Webb forward it would have been interesting.

If it is Trump, I don’t know what I’ll do. Options are vote for him or stay home and drink.

Bernie Sanders is a failure in life. He has accomplished nothing personally. He has sucked from the public teat for decades but has known himself to be worthy and deserving of great things. In 1972, when he was 31 and w/o a job, as usual, he garnered 1500 votes when he ran for the Senate. I guess he was encouraged by that drubbing so he ran for governor. He received nearly 2200 votes but was, again, dead last. Two years later, he was at it again, running for the Senate and, once again, he got plastered. By this time, most people would have given up but Bernie was accustomed to failing in all aspects of his life so he pushed on (Forward!) So, in 1976, now 35 and still w/o a steady job, he ran again for governor and, guess what? He wasn’t dead last for the first time ever! And he got smarter, targeting a small mayoral office in 1981. It worked! Bernie “Landslide” Sanders won by 10 votes, 4330 to 4320. By 1986, at the tender age of 45 and a solid employment history five consecutive years, Landslide was ready for the big time. He again ran for governor but got his ass kicked once again. (Not enough commies and socialists had yet moved to Vermont, I guess.) Bernie retreated to Burlington and resumed his tough mayoral job, battling racism, sexism, capitalism, fascism, Nazism, and Catholicism. (Okay, I made that last one up.) END PART I. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II, entitled, Landslide Bernie enters the Big Top.

Yes, but for some reason, Lincoln’s stops suddenly when he is 56. In the 130 or so years that separated Lincoln’s birth from Sander’s, the country has changed much. Lincoln’s family moved around a great deal and lived off the land, hand to mouth. The Sanders family was fixed in Brooklyn and wanted for nothing. Lincoln was a self starter, marrying young, supporting himself and his wife without government assistance. Sanders had all of the creature comforts while Lincoln had few. Sanders’ education was served up on a platter and Lincoln’s was self acquired, overcoming his father’s disdain for formal education and advancing himself while holding menial—but paying– jobs. At 23, Lincoln joined the militia and became a captain during the Black Hawk Wars. Sanders shunned the military and sought conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War. In 1834, at age 25, Lincoln, while studying law, was elected to the state legislature. Two years later, he earned his law license and was re-elected to the state legislature three more times. He had bouts with recurring illnesses but survived, despite the absence of Blue Cross/Blue Shield or, for that matter, mandatory health insurance of any sort. Lincoln returned full time to law in 1841 and was earning a handsome salary, allowing him to buy a house and to furnish it. At the same age, Sander’s was having his electricity shut off for nonpayment. By his early 40s, Lincoln’s law practice was quite lucrative and he enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest lawyers in the state. Sanders, by the same age, had lost multiple elections and had been without decent income until he was elected mayor of Burlington, VT. I think I’ll stop here. There is no comparison between Lincoln and Sanders.

“I believed that a political party was interested in looking out for me. For certain, my gullibility and naiveté were exposed.”

Guilty as well.

I grew up thinking there was a little graft in government but they were still looking out for their constituents. I took my first political science class in college and the professor, an avowed leftist told the class that the first priority of the party is to maintain power. What a buzz killer that was.

Today I compare the two major parties to the two Mexican parties.

The Dems are like the PRI. They say they are for the people but they just line their own pockets while the people suffer.

The GOP sort of like PAN. Weak and stupid. Oh and they line their pockets as well.

You can vote for the fucking Communist and watch this country’s economy go down another economic black hole.

You can vote for that slimy bitch who wants to spend your money on worthless shit, but thinks you are just as worthless as she is.

Or you can vote for one of the other guys.

The choice is yours. But I’d like to remind you that if you don’t go and vote, which is a guaranteed right in this country, you make the damned Communists from the USSR look smarter than you are because they had something to complain about. They simply didn’t dare. You, on the other hand, if you don’t vote will have only yourself to blame for the wrong person getting the office.

I said above that I have a forecast from 2012, I detest repeating myself. Shrillary will most likely pick the Bernout as veep.
Unless you WANT those two democrap scumbags to win, you’d better hit the polls in November. If you don’t, then don’t show up bitching about who won because I don’t give a shit.

So many expletives! you must mean business! I’m voting for the guy who is bringing back manufacturing jobs for us blue collar workers. We need factories with less automation and more levers and knobs that only uneducated white people can operate! Like the jobs my dad and his dad had – when you could support a family on a single income. Bring those days back! Not all this robotic automation that’s stealing all our manufacturing jobs! Trump says he’s going to bring those jobs back! At the very least I’ll be able to set up re-bar and concrete at the great wall version 2.0.

I am not a Trump supporter. That being said; I have watched the establishment republican voters have a complete meltdown over Trump. As for the establishment politicians; they fight against Trump harder than they ever do democrats. Maybe if they fought that hard against democrats and Obama; maybe Trump would have never been an issue?

In ’08, I held my nose and voted for McCain. In ’12, I did the same and voted for Romney. I told myself, after that, that I will never vote like that, again.

The republicans have had the house and senate and done jack shit with it. They have acted like they are the minority party and have let Obama and the left bully them into submitting to whatever Obumbles wants. Now they show back bone???? Problem is, it’s against a candidate in their own party, not the commies on the left.

If trump has that many people on both sides of the aisle scared, screaming, and shitting themselves, he just might be doing it right. The inner DC establishment has been in serious need of a shakeup for decades.

Well technically the establishment is worried because Trump has about a 30% change of winning a general election. “Winning” right now is really only referring to earning 35% of registered republicans votes during the primaries. That’s not a great percentage to take to the general election. That’s why people like Hondo and PH2 are so clear that everyone needs to vote “Hillary or Not Hillary”. No voting with your pesky conscience. As Kang and Kodos told us “3rd party!? Fine throw your vote away!”.

PART II. Bernie Enters the Big Top—and stays there.
The population of Burlington, VT was not quite a million people in 1981. Actually, it wasn’t half that or even a 10th of that, but I suppose 50,000 is a decent size. No, it wasn’t that large either. Burlington, Vermont’s population was about 37,000 in 1981 and its voting-age population considerably smaller when Landslide Bernie’s 10-vote margin of victory provided him with his first steady job at age 40. After nearly five years, Landslide was ready for a promotion. It had been 10 years since he last ran for governor. ‘Surely,’ he must have thought, ‘the People will want me.’ They didn’t. But there was a hopeful sign. His thumping was slightly less than it had been in 1976. So, he returned to that metropolis, Burlington, and ran for mayor again in 1987 and won, receiving nearly 7,000 off the 13,000 votes cast. (Improvement was noted.) The following year, and still playing the Burlington voters like an old fiddle, he again wanted out. He ran for Congress, lost yet again, but pulled 90,000 votes, a staggering number for a guy pushing 50 whose claim to fame was being mayor of wee Burlington. Bernie’s decade was the 1990s. He was admitted to the Big Top in 1991 and stayed there for 15 years! Then, in 2006, the he was placed in the center ring, the US Senate, by Vermonters where he has been ever since. And now, he wants to be President of the United States. Bernie’s story is the modern American dream of how a bum who has never held a real job in his life might become, at the age of 75, the next leader of the free world. (In Part III, we will examine why Bernie never learned to tie a Windsor knot. Stay tuned.)

“An influx of urban refugees and hippie escapists from New York and Massachusetts in the 1960s and 1970s changed everything. Soon Vermont had ski resorts, billboard bans, chi-chi restaurants, yoga retreats, and liberal Democrats. “ Time Magazine, 2 March 2008

One of those hippie escapists was Bernie Sanders. He arrived in Vermont in 1968 at age 26 or 27, with a degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago—and an arrest record. Bernie was what we used to call a rad, or radical. He joined the Young People’s Socialist League in Chicago and sought conscious objector status during the Vietnam War. He didn’t get it, but he was too old to be drafted by then anyway. Bernie was against and for a great many things, some good causes included. As a private person, however, he was a mess, railing against the wealthy and fathering at least one love child, a boy named Levi, birthed by Susan Mott. Levi arrived after Bernie’s divorce from his first wife, Deborah Messing, with whom he had no children. He floated from one odd job to another, sometimes paying his electric bill and sometimes not. He could not have been happy having a child, a girlfriend and being virtually destitute by choice. Perhaps that is why he once declared that no one should ever make more than a million dollars. To Bernie the Rad’s way of thinking, that was way too much money for any one person to have. It didn’t matter to him whether it was inherited money or earned, say, by someone who started a company, employed hundreds or thousands of people—they just shouldn’t have more than a million, that’s all. Bernie seems to have modeled his life after other irresponsible rads of international infamy. His worldview was and remains clear: class struggle. The owners of the means of production hold all of the power and determine who gets what and how much. The proletariat (workers) provide their sweat for little more than subsistence living. In between stands the bourgeoisie, the manager class, the operators and sometime owners of the means of production who keep the capitalist machine running. (Another way to look at this is the economic and social relations of slave traders, slaves, overseers, and plantation owners.)

In Bernie’s eyes, capitalism provides too much to too few and too little to too many. No matter to me whether he is called a socialist, a communist, a Marxist, a progressive, or a filthy hippie all grown up. Bernie never wanted to learn to own a tie, let alone learn to make a Windsor knot with one. He preferred the blue worker’s shirt over a dress shirt—that is, until recently. Now he would like to be viewed as a sensible, middle class guy, sort of mainstream guy, albeit quirky, who only wants to help the masses by becoming president. But, still, there will be no Windsor knot tied by him. It would be so—so—capitalist like to do so and so very un-Marx.

Yeah, there were a couple of mistakes in there. 1) Conscious objector? No, conscientious objector. 20 Bernie never wanted to learn to own a tie? That may be true but what I meant to write was that Bernie never wanted to own a tie.

The ‘conscious objector’ term is really not too far off, except that the Bernout seldom strikes me as being fully conscious. Personally, I think he’s just a lazy fuck who wants everyone to do everything for him.

Is it just me or does it seem to anyone else like the absolute, sum total of Trump’s appeal are that he’s hated by the “right” people?

It’s not his policies, it’s not his speeches. It’s simply the fact that his supporters hate the “establishment”, the “liberal media” and the “self appointed intelligentsia” and as long as those people hate on Trump, the Trump supporters fall even more in love with the lying, narcissistic egomaniac Trump.

The funny thing is, it was the Republican “establishment” that stirred up all this “anger” in a bid to defeat Obama, and now it’s coming back to bite them in the ass.

In a nutshell JD that’s been the republican party’s MO for at least 8 years now, stop things and don’t do shit except tell the masses they can’t trust DC.

Oddly enough it appears at least some of the masses got the message and stopped trusting the folks in DC including the republican party leadership…

Distrust and disgust gave rise to Trump and to a lesser extent on the other side the rise of the Bern.

I find it wildly entertaining that the establishment repubs talk about Reagan all the time and use him as the reason they obstruct…

I’m reminded of this excerpt about Reagan and Tip O’Neill a couple of men with a great love of country and completely different ideas about how to govern….

Reagan was warm – and he meant his words. For years, he and O’Neill engaged in tough partisan competition. They gave no quarter and expected none. The president believed that government wasn’t the solution; it was the problem. The House speaker believed that people, especially the old, the sick and the young, needed help along the way.

There was something the American people liked about this test of wills. Voters saw these political heavyweights jousting over ideas and dealing with each other as worthy opponents. Citizens clearly felt satisfied that these politicians were fighting the good fight on their behalf.

Reagan had a basic philosophy: Cut taxes, cut the size of government and beat the Soviets. Tip believed that Social Security had alleviated the fear millions once had of old age, and that the GI Bill and other government programs built the American middle class. Yet, occasionally, the two found common ground.

“Tip had the last word and it was good one,” Reagan jotted in his diary after one meeting. Another entry: “I’m having more luck with Demos than Repubs. Asked O’Neill if I could address a joint session next week. He agreed.”

To soften the edges, they would share lunches from time to time, and always on St. Patrick’s Day.

Trump might be more Reaganesque in that regard, the ability to talk to the other side of the aisle as if they were actually humans also and not the hellspawn the republican establishment would have us all believe.

As for Sanders, I think his positions can’t be funded without massive debt. But I don’t dislike him or feel he’s a liar. It’s my opinion that he believes he can do what he says and that what he says is what he truly believes will make this country better. Our problem today is that we’ve all learned to despise and hate the other side. We can’t talk about them without hyperbole and we have to disparage them to mitigate any value in their positions. It’s true of both parties.

I’m as guilty as the next guy….as I reflect on this thanks to JD I realize that we the people have allowed ourselves to be manipulated into this entire us vs. them all the while being hosed by those in DC on both sides. Trump has a great many faults, but maybe the few strengths he holds are appropriate to the current task at hand.

Cruz is not a unifier, he’s a crusader. There’s nothing wrong with crusaders as long the crusades are on, but when they’re over crusaders only sow discord. He can’t find 5 men he works with every day to testify as to his good nature, he will be as ineffective as Obama because he can’t unify his own party never mind work as a bipartisan president. Republicans need to be bipartisan politicians, they’ve not had a super majority in what a 100 years? It’s bipartisan or it’s nothing happening for the republicans and it’s time they figured that out.

The last election wasn’t about turning to republican values it was a rejection of Obama’s presidency, the republicans have spent the last four years thinking otherwise and it’s going to cost them dearly if they don’t get their shit together in the next few months.

Well, if it is true that Trump supporters support him for being outside of the generic Establishment, then they are certainly mistaken. If they support him for being outside the political establishment, in that he has never held public office, then they are technically correct. The problem is that the front guys are just that. Their House or Senate votes are directed or influenced by the movers and shakers behind the scene–except, perhaps, in what are called conscience issues. In that sense, Trump is very much part of the political establishment, too. My question is, whose hands are clean? Seriously. Eisenhower might have been the last such president but I could receive a strong argument that he, too, was a player. Trump is scoring points by calling a spade a spade and the media are largely helping him by portraying him as the second coming of Hitler. As I and others have said, I will vote for him if he’s the nominee–while hoping that he is not.

Bernie Sanders is the hero of today’s youth and older waste products b/c he is proving that you can do nothing worthwhile with your life, avoid work, have the gov’t support you, decry injustice w/o alleviating it, and still rise to national prominence.

There’s a lot of lambasting of Bernie…why waste time even typing. He’s not going to win the nomination. He’s staying the race to try and push Hillary further left from her Center right positions. Sure – maybe the die hard Bernie fans think he has a chance. That’s pretty much equivalent to think Trump is going to easily win a general election. The numbers are not in their favor.

Why not? Because you don’t want to? Well, that’s an easy fix – if you don’t want to waste your time typing about him, then don’t. Except that you already have.

Oops. Whether you do or do not waste your time isn’t my business. I’m sure that you do a lot of things I think are a waste of time. I just don’t care. How any of us spend our time is likewise not your business, until we expect you to pay for it.

The reason I, as you say, waste time tying about Bernie is that Bernie remains a candidate and I don’t have a crystal ball that tells me that Wide Load will be free or even be kicking come election day. I wish her no ill, other than justice and a good thumping, but who knows what fate awaits her? Besides, Bernie deserves every lousy thing that can be written or spoken about him.

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About thisainthell

We are all military combat veterans and we write primarily from that perspective. Everyone who writes here has a Combat Infantry Badge, a Combat Medic Badge, a Combat Action Badge or a Combat Action Ribbon. We write about issues that matter to combat veterans..read more »